enter title here>
by Takira1
Summary: PG13 for minor swearing, some youi Zell/Seifer (i dont know why, i LUV Zell - -" basically its a different world where the genome project has gone out of hand, sit back and enjoy ^^"
1. Default Chapter

Yo, Tak here. Basicaly I own all, you..square soft..the world and Zell is my own personal sex bunny..i dare you to sue..i DARE YOU!  
  
Just a warning, some mild youi Zelly/Seify, I dun know why, the thought that Zell is gay…sniffle..i couldn't handle it. Anywho enjoy or I will hunt you down ^^" luv Takira  
  
chapter 1  
  
"Life's hard, I've learnt all about that. From when I was born in the slums to now, the things I've been through would probably cave all those RG's. The ones in their large houses surrounded by their guards. Eating off their gold plated plates while we eat off pieces of dirty, wet cardboard, if we're lucky. If we're lucky to eat. Just look at them, they make me sick. The designer babies with parents that are rich enough to decide what they look like and then clone them to have the 'perfect' family. What gives them the right to call us inferior? Who gave them the right to be better than us? Well, they're not better than me, I'll make them very aware of that."  
  
Cold, wet, exhausted; the young girl trudged mournfully down the desolate street with her hands in her pockets, staring at the ground. Her flaccid, mousy brown hair swayed from side to side following her limp. Her dirty rags hung on her thin body, a pathetic attempt to keep out the freezing cold. Colliding into someone drew her attention off her intense hunger and an agonising thought that lay at the back of her mind yet at the tip of her tongue. Mumbling an apology, she moved to the side of the tall, solid figure and carried on.  
  
"Hey wait, stop a sec," said a deep, calming voice as smooth as velvet. Presuming, or rather hoping it wasn't for her, she continued. "I said wait," it said again, grabbing onto her arm gently with a strong, leather-clad hand. She looked up at this man, panic suddenly in her eyes.  
  
"I…I'm sorry, I really am! I didn't mean to walk into you, please don't hurt me," she stuttered, cringing away from him. The man smiled kindly from under a fawn, faded cowboy hat and rubbed her arms to get her warm. His long, wavy brown hair spilled out from under his hat and his warm, gloved hands made the goose pimples on her arms disappear. His almost feminine face with slanting, dark brown eyes and rose-petal lips defied his low voice but fitted him perfectly at the same time.  
  
"Forget about that. I'm from the Hope Home and you need my help I can see," he said, flashing a plastic badge, yellowing from age, with HH printed on in green. The colour of the resistance thought the girl, her confidence rising. "You're far to thin," he added, "we need to get some food in you. You're practically skin and bone." Leading her by the arm gently, he took her to a building almost three blocks away. Above the door, a green painted sign read "Hope Home, East District" in childish writing. Inside wasn't much better than outside. It was a little warmer, but it was still a squalid. People in the same situation as her were seated randomly around the "welcome room", sometimes huddled together to keep warm despite not knowing a single person. Most had lost their families in the rising of the RG's reign, this common factor drew them all together and made them trust eachother. The man led her to a ragged old red sofa. Probably infested with lice, she thought, then cursed herself for being so fussy. Seating her down, he moved into a separate part of the room and scooped something into a large mug from a huge pot with a metallic scrape. "Here," he said and smiled warmly at her. Taking it hesitantly, she peered inside. "It's not poison, it's just soup," he said, almost cheerfully, "It's warm too" he added as though it was worth gold for just that. It seemed like forever since she had eaten anything, and even longer since she had had anything that was warm. Right now she didn't care if it was poison or not, it was food, and what did it matter if she died anyway. The luke-warm, slightly runny vegetable soup trickled down her throat. She attempted a laugh as she gave the empty mug back.  
  
"Th…thank you," she stammered. He simply nodded and smiled again, moving to another sofa to comfort a crying boy. Who is this man? She thought in wonder, why did he decide to help me? Looking to the wall, so as not to have to look at anyone, she noticed a message scrawled on the yellowed, flaking flower wallpaper. Squinting to read it, she mouthed the words to herself, "L'Oreal, because they're worth it, not us." Instantly a small lump formed like a marble in her throat. The man looked back at her as though remembering something, and quickly covered up the message with his hand.  
  
"Ignore that sweetie," he said, ripping the piece of wallpaper off. As he moved on, she looked back at where it was. The writing was still indented in the damp wall, a ghost of her thoughts, of every ones thoughts. Suddenly, another, smaller man rushed into the room. His golden blonde hair was gelled upwards, probably with fat off the black market as gel was no longer available, adding three inches to his height, being considerably smaller than the first man she met and almost everyone else. He wore a pair of faded blue trousers that reached just below his knees and which were covered in dirt. A black t-shirt, full of holes, barely protected his pale, thin torso except from nakedness. His wide, flashing, brilliant blue eyes darted around the room in panic. "They're here!" he shouted and hurriedly ushered some of the confused and terrified people toward the back door. The first man turned to her with a serious look on his face that made her shudder.  
  
"Get out of here, I want you to be safe," he hissed. She nodded and rushed to the door, ignorant of what was actually going on. Turning back before being shoved out of the door, she had a brief second to notice two more men come in and help those that were injured to escape whoever 'they' were, her eyes became firmly fixed on the first man. He was finally obscured from her view by the doorway as the panic-stricken people behind her roughly squeezed her through into the alley. Suddenly she was surrounded by swarms of soldiers, their faces hidden by a black and blue, shiny helmet that reflected the screaming faces of those around her. All of them looked the same; muscled bodies could be made out under the blue spandex that made up their royal blue uniform, all were at least 6"6, not an inch divided their height. The last thing she saw was a man towering above her and lifting up his club, bringing it down upon her head with a crack. 


	2. 

The cold dark cell compared nothing to the Hope Home. They had been raided and shut down, as had most of the other HH's. Those in control didn't approve of the slums. The girl opened her eyes slowly and looked around in a daze as the cold rushed to her bones. She became aware of an intense pain on her head that throbbed with her heartbeat, and also that she was being held by strong arms that she thankfully recognised immediately.  
  
"Hey there sweetie, you awake?" said the familiar voice. Looking up at his handsome face she scrambled to get away from this show of affection, almost frightened, but smiled weakly and nodded. "Be careful now, they hit your head pretty hard." Touching her wound gently she felt a mat of hair crusted with blood and a large lump rising under it. Sitting up, she gazed in scared suspicion at all her 'cell mates'. There was the smaller man, his blonde hair now in droopy spikes around his friendly eyes, dulled slightly but still captivatingly wide and blue. He had been wounded on the side of his head, the scarlet blood only emphasised against his white-blonde hair, and was holding a small child who was sobbing pitifully into his chest. Beside him was another man, slightly taller but just as thing, and another man taller still yet with a muscular build that seemed almost natural. One of them had floppy chestnut hair, damp with sweat, that fell around his eyes, hiding them. His hands writhed together as though with nothing to do and he was mumbling softly under his breath. The other man had a long scar between his eyes from left to right. His strawberry-blonde hair, slightly too long for the style it was in, was back against his head with two floaty bits hanging over the scar. He had his arm around the first man and was trying futilely to comfort him. "What happened to Squall?" asked the man that was holding her, worried.  
  
"Rinoa…she got caught…" said the scarred man, looking over at them. "We tried to run but she…" he trailed off as Squall started shaking, choking back desperate sobs. The small man turned to Squall and muttered words of consolation to him. "Well Irvine, how do we get out of this one?" said the scarred man, sighing. The man who rescued her shook his head cynically.  
  
"I really don't know Seifer," he mumbled, "we've never been in this kind of predicament."  
  
"Sure we have!" said the smaller man, standing up and clenching his fists in excitement. "We got arrested in Galbadia once, then thrown in prison! We managed to get out of that one."  
  
"Yea, but you knew the prison then, didn't you. Do you know this one?" the small man's spirit became damped once more, gently he rubbed his wrists.  
  
"It's damned weird not having my gloves on, but that doesn't mean I can't still cause some serious damage with 'em," he said, punching at the air. "Give me a chance and I could take any one of those slimy fucking guards!"  
  
"Zell!" said a woman with long, greasy, blonde hair clipped limply behind her head. She looked disapprovingly up at him with a motherly frown. She pointed to the little girl that Zell was holding before, "watch your language." Zell covered his mouth and looked at the little girl mischievously. Kneeling down, he laughed behind his hand and mumbled, "I got in twouble." The little girl giggled and nodded. "I'm sowwy Qwistis," he said mockingly. The lady shook her head and smiled.  
  
"We may live in the slums Zell, but these children can still grow up right. They have to learn not to resort to swearing or violence to get their point across."  
  
"Those guards didn't exactly help," said Seifer, taking his arm from around the now calmer Squall. "I mean, beating us all up like that, we weren't even armed. Caught me at a charitable moment. Talking of which, when exactly did they take my blade?"  
  
"The same time they took mine," mumbled Squall, lifting his face up. His eyes were red from his crying and the paths of his tears were still clearly visible. He also had a scar across his face but in the opposite direction to Seifer's. The girl could see that his eyes would be a beautiful dark, misty blue, if it weren't for the bloodshot lines. Seifer laughed slightly, trying to raise the spirits of everyone.  
  
"It lives, welcome to this world Squall," he said almost cheerfully. Squall shot him an icy glare and stood up. He frowned as he set eyes upon the girl. "Who are you?" he demanded, wary of any new faces. All the rest of the people turned their heads to hear the answer, although more out of friendly curiosity. Zell, Seifer, Irvine, Quistis, the little girl and a few other people that were in the cell with them. The girl became unnerved by all the eyes set on her and looked down. Irvine lifted her chin up so he could look into her eyes and smiled.  
  
"Come on, we're not that scary, are we?" She smiled back weakly and looked at all those watching her.  
  
"My name's Nestella," she said quietly, "I'm mostly known as Nez though, not Stella," she added, trying a laugh to ease her nerves.  
  
"Cute name," said Irvine, stretching his arms up. Zell suddenly jumped into his fighting stance once more positively shaking with delight at his idea.  
  
"I got it!" he shouted then lowered his voice to a whisper as the guard snorted in his sleep, "I mean, sure, I don't know this place, but that doesn't mean I cant use my weapon to help get us out anyway!" He shook his fists at Seifer's face, who raised his eyebrows and pushed the fists away. "See! Your and Squall's gunblades have been swiped, so has Quistis' whip I'm guessing." Quistis nodded solemnly.  
  
"Right after they took your gloves," she said.  
  
"So, what's holding me back? As I said before, my only weapons are these fists o' mine!" He ran to the bars and looked out. "I'm sure we can get out of this, we used to be SeeDs for Christ's sake. We beat Ultimicia, we did so much!" Turning back he looked directly at Nez. "I don't know where the hell this came from, but Quezacotl keeps telling me there's something about you." Nez looked at him, putting on a confused front.  
  
"Quezacotl? Who's that?" she lied. Zell explained to her about his GF, Guardian Force, how it was inside his head and had been for as long as he could remember, how he could summon it to help him in battle, oblivious that she already knew full well.  
  
"All the SeeDs here have one. Squall has Shiva," Nez's eyes widened as she recognised the names, "Quistis has Ifrit, Seifer has the Brothers, Rinoa has Sir…" He trailed off after seeing the painful flicker behind Squall's eyes, a sign that only those who had known him long enough could pick up on. "Woa, sorry dude, wasn't thinkin'" Squall shook his head and smiled slightly. Coughing, Zell continued his rallying speech. "We used to have more, but we lost a few. Anyway, Quezacotl is saying that you aren't just the street urchin that you make yourself out to be." Nez looked around nervously, Zell sensed this. "I knew it! There is something special! What is it?" All attention was yet again turned on Nez.  
  
"We can talk about that when we get out," said Squall, leaning a criticising hand on his hip, "I'm with Zell on that idea. I mean, we can't just stay here to be tortured or killed or whatever." The children that were in the cell with them whimpered. "Zell still has his weapon in theory, he can probably easily find ours. We just need to get him out, and I think I know how." Squall walked up to Zell slowly and whispered something into his ear. Zell smiled and drew his fist back as Squall shut his eyes to brace himself.  
  
"You bastard! How dare you say that!" screamed Zell and slammed his fist into Squalls face at an angle that wouldn't hurt him too much.  
  
"I can say what I want, chicken-wuss!" Squall shouted back taking a swing at Zell's face. Zell dodged this easily and pushes Squall into the bars making a deafening clang ring out waking up the nearby guard. Just as was expected, two guards dressed in the royal blue of the RG's came rushing in to see Zell holding onto a battered Squall by the collar. They quickly unlocked the door to the cell and struggled to get a very well acted Zell off Squall. Dragging him out they lifted their trunchons just as Zell stood up properly. In a quick brawl, Zell came out on top and, waving to the rest, ran off in search of the weapons leaving the three dazed guards lying on the floor. The attention was turned to Squall as Quistis ran to the sink outside the cell and brought back a dirty wet cloth to dab on his face. "Damn, I'd never win in a fight like that against Zell, no-one could. Those fists of his hurt like hell," he mumbled as Quistis nursed him.  
  
Suddenly a loud piercing siren echoed through the building. The curses of Zell were heard in the distance and began to get closer. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!" he mumbled in panic as he ran back in, arms laden with the gunblades, pinwheel, shotgun, whip and numchuku. Irvine's face lit up with hope as he saw the numchuku. "Selphie's numchuku are here! That means she must be here! We have to find her!" shouted Zell as he handed the weapons out. Squall grabbed his Lionheart and Rinoa's Shooting Star pinwheel, Seifer his Hyperion, Irvine his Exeter shotgun and Quistis her Save the Queen whip. Zell had already slipped on his red gloves, Ehrgeiz, the leather flaking slightly from age and the metal plates on the knuckles were beginning to rust. The gunblades were also rusting, as were the other weapons. However they seemed to work just fine as guard after guard was thrown to the ground with either a slash down their front, a bullet in their stomach, a wound from the blade atop Quistis' whip or a battered face. As in the Galbadian prison however, they couldn't use magic or their GF's but they still were fierce and very pissed off at being imprisoned. Gathering up the children and dragging the older ones, the former SeeD's made a path and a formidable team.  
  
Selphie thought she was going mad. It had been so long since she had heard the voice of anyone; the loud siren must be getting to her, she thought she heard her name being called out. Dare she answer? What if it was a trick? A mean trick by one of the guards to give her a false sense of hope. She continued to listen. There it was again, over and over.  
  
"Selphie?! Where are you Selphie?! It's me, Irvine, answer me please!!" screamed Irvine, darting to every cell door and peering into the gloom. There was the odd figure inside the odd cell; he couldn't help them though. They might be murderers anyway; they might be in there for a real reason. He tried again. "For Christ's sake Selphie shout back! I know you're here, I have your numchuku, answer me baby, please!" Selphie's eyes lit up, it was him, it was Irvine. In a breaking voice she screeched back.  
  
"Irvine? Irvine I'm here! Follow my voice, I'm right here!" Irvine ran around blindly trying to find the source, growling in frustration at every cell that didn't contain her. After a few desperate minutes he found her. They stared at eachother for what seemed like hours, then she spoke. "Hey Irvy, how are ya?" He almost cried. Irvine motioned for her to stand back and aimed his shotgun at the lock. He was pushed back slightly from the power of his weapon against a target at point blank but wasted no time in flinging open the door and running inside. He threw his arms around Selphie and buried his face in her neck.  
  
"Oh God Selphie, I thought I'd never see you again," he mumbled into her. She gently stroked his hair, whispering words of comfort and not bothering to fight back her tears. He pulled back and checked her over, "you're okay, right? They didn't hurt you?" Selphie nodded and wiped her tears away. Laughing joyously, Irvine passed her her numchuku and grabbed her hand, pulling her to safety. Once outside they met the others, fighting to buy time to wait for them.  
  
"Let's go," shouted Seifer, leading the way as usual, "we'll cry and cuddle when we're safe." Selphie laughed for the first time in years, she had missed Seifer's sarcastic humour. Spinning her numchuku around her head and back into her hands she summoned her GF, Diablos, the bat daemon. It felt like she was stretching her legs for the first time after a journey that had lasted 2 years, at last she was back with her friends. As the whole party came back into view once Diablos had gone, all they saw was a huge crater and several guards lying inside. Selphie looked around suddenly in panic.  
  
"Where's Squall?" she queried.  
  
The blue glint of the almighty Lionheart was all the guards saw before they fell to the ground. One after the other they either fought and fell or ran like cowards for nothing could come between this man and his lady. Shouting out her name till his throat was hoarse he ran from cellblock to cell block. In return she shouted back for her hero, rattling the cell bars to make it quite clear where she was. He found her and slammed his blade into the lock, breaking it with ease. The happy reunion, as Rinoa found out, would have to wait, as he grabbed her hand harshly and dragged her after him. Running outside to the sound of reinforcements, they joined the others shortly after Selphie queried after them. Seifer turned to Zell and nodded, smirking in anticipation. Zell nodded back, bringing his fist up to his face in concentration and throwing it forward as the sky blackened. Sharp bolts of lightning shot across the sky and a larger one to the ground, throwing up a cloud of burnt dust. Quezacotl made its grand entrance and searched for its victim. Finding them already dead it looked for Zell in confusion. He reappeared and grinned up at the lightning bird, hopping up its tail and onto its back as it bent down realising what it's true role was now. Shouting for the others to join him, they also reappeared and ran up onto the back. Screeching and flapping its huge wings, Quezacotl flew upwards and away to a new and un-known destination. 


	3. 

The shadowy figure tapped his long, jewel-encrusted fingers on the marble desktop. Clenching his hand into a fist he slammed it on the desk and shouted out in rage.  
  
"How dare those dirty, disgusting low-lives do this to me!!" he screamed, standing up. "They don't even deserve to live let alone harm my men!" Turning in a billowing of velvet robe and expensive scent he strode across the room and threw open the door. He shouted out a few names and three little men came scurrying up to him. "Send out a search party, I want these rats found, you hear? I want them found within the week or you can bet you'll be joining them, got it?" he said in a low, threatening voice. The little men nodded and bolted down the corridor. Smirking in satisfaction the man returned to his leather seat and settle down comfortably. He leaned forward and pressed a button on the phone on the desk. "Secretary, send in my daughters," he mumbled and turned his seat to the door. A "yes sir," crackled across the speaker and the door was flung open as three identical looking girls ran in. The only way to distinguish them was by their height. It was as though someone had split a pretty blonde girl into three ages, 6, 9 and 12.  
  
"Daddy!" they shouted in unison. The man greeted them with a friendly hug and sat the smallest on his knee. The oldest spoke first, stroking the head of her copy on her fathers' knee. "We just heard about what the rats did at your facility Daddy," she said in an almost mocking tone of sympathy. "We all want nothing more than to catch them and punish them." The middle girl nodded in agreement and hugged her older sister.  
  
"Why did they do it Daddy? Didn't we help them? Why are they being so ungrateful?" she asked. The man smiled.  
  
"They did it because they are lower beings and don't know any better. We are their superior, remember that," he said, ruffling her hair slightly to her giggles. "We tried to help them but they wouldn't accept it. They aren't as intelligent as us; they don't know when they're being helped. Don't worry about them any more, they'll all be gone soon." He smiled sadistically, bowing his head to hide it from his daughters. "Now go and tell Cook what you want to eat tonight and tell Secretary to get in here, okay?" he added cheerfully. The girls all nodded and ran out laughing, oblivious to what they were assisting. A tall woman with large round glasses and brown hair in a bun behind her head came bustling into the office, stopping a few feet in front of the desk and clutching a file.  
  
"What can I help you with sir?" she stuttered. The man proceeded to tell her the plans to find the rats and what to do with them when they were caught while she took notes. Once he was done she walked back out of the office, her heels clicking on the stone floor. Closing the door behind her she almost ran down the hall to a small office of her own. It wasn't nearly as grand; Secretaries were not made to have large offices. Just as she was opening the door an identical looking woman flew past her, mumbling a greeting to her but obviously too busy to stop. She wore the same grey flannel dress, the same tan stockings and clutched the same black file. Adjusting the glasses on her nose, Secretary smiled after her clone and walked into her room to start her work before she got shouted at. Slowly she sat down at the small metal desk and opened the file out at the notes she just made. Glancing up at the computer screen in front of her she positioned her fingers over the keyboard and breathed in deeply. As if someone had flicked a switch in her, she started typing at mechanic speed. Not taking her eyes off the notes she wrote yet not making a single mistake. Her three pages were typed up in less than a minute in perfect format. Wiggling her fingers slightly to combat the aching, she commanded the computer to start printing. As it did, she felt an overwhelming urge to sort out something. Looking around her office she saw that all the pieces of paper were in their right files, all the files on their right shelves and all the shelves labelled. Her desktop, plain chrome, like the others, was tidy, her drawers were organised and yet she still felt this feeling, almost like a craving. She sighed in relief as the printer stopped; finally she had something to do. Grabbing the work she ran out of her office and to the municipal photocopier at the end of the hall.  
  
Secretary of Gillian joined the queue behind Secretary of Shaper as Secretary of Plain stood in front. They vaguely nodded to eachother but stood in silence, clutching to their files, their only possession. Each had the same desire to do what they were engineered to do and so didn't have the time to speak. They didn't have anything to speak about, as it is each Secretary kept their bosses work to themselves, as they were programmed. They waited for Secretary of whom-ever to finish her work and moved forward one step at the same time. 


	4. 

The soft snore of the blonde-haired tattooed one was only drowned out by the sound of the wind rushing over Quezacotl's wings. He had been up all night, peering down at the ground to look for a suitable place to land his thunderbird. Everywhere he looked there was the evidence of the RG's, desolate slums, large, elegant houses, huge scientific complex's. By now they would have sent out people to look for them, he couldn't risk landing within a mile radius of anywhere to do with them. With their technology they would find them within the hour if they did. Besides, Quezacotl wasn't exactly inconspicuous.  
  
It was Seifer's watch, and he couldn't think of any other time in his life when he was more bored than this. Every so often he would look down to see, like he had done for the last 3 hours, a huge chrome complex. It was where they collected the right 'seeds' to make whatever they needed. The odd Secretary, maybe a Cook, anything designed to fulfil their duties and nothing more. Seifer frowned, he nearly ended up like them, if it hadn't been for Squall…  
  
He always thought Squall hated him as much as he thought he hated Squall, turned out to be almost the opposite. They had decided to have a 'talk' about what their relationship should be after they beat Ultimicia. What came out of this was Seifer admitted he was gay and felt oddly attracted to Squall. He explained he only hurt Squall to throw him off the scent and because he was jealous that Squall didn't feel for him back. Seifer was very surprised when Squall asked him why he would think that. Squall still loved Rinoa, but, although they fought, they grew up together and he did care about him. Seifer smiled as he thought of this. Squall cared for him. He knew he would never get a chance, not unless Rinoa died. The thought suddenly sparked in his mind. "Woops, Rinoa fell off the edge of Quezacotl while sleeping. I wasn't watching, I was looking for a place to land." He smirked slightly, amused at this idea. He couldn't pull it off though, he didn't hate Rinoa. He still remembered their summer together when they were 16 and 17. He didn't love her though, not like that, he couldn't, he was gay. The main focus of his romantic interest however was the tattooed thunderbird master, Zell Dincht. He only picked on him because he loved that angry, sulky pout he did. He slowly and hesitantly moved his hand toward Zell's face and traced the tattoo with his finger. His face was warm but, assuming from the incessant shivering, his body was frozen. He longed to take his small form in his arms and keep him warm under his heavy trench coat He couldn't though, so far only Squall knew his secret and he swore not to tell anyone. Unknown to Seifer, Zell had woken up the moment Seifer's finger touched his face, sending a tingle of longing over his face. 


	5. 

It was a further 3 hours before they found somewhere to land. It was around where Trabia Garden used to be, now, due to the changes in the atmosphere, it was a baron desert spare a few clumps of dead trees. Immediately the memories flooded back to Selphie like a tsunami. She couldn't hold back the tears as she saw the ancient ruins that was once her Garden and thought of what had happened once the RG's had taken over. The missiles where considered a pathetic attack compared, despite the devastating impact that they had. Even as the residents of Garden were re-building after the missiles, they had to deal with a huge wave of perfectly engineered soldiers that had been made in secret by the then new clan, the Rise of Richness, otherwise known as the Rich Guys, RG's. Although the Garden pupils were unable to do anything while they were re-building, they were getting much stronger than before, taking advantage of this opportunity to re-model their Garden and their curriculum. Therefore they posed a considerable threat to the RG's, they knew just how strong the SeeD's could get. After taking care of the grounded Garden they sent jets to deal with the flying ones. Balamb and Galbadia stood no chance against them and many died. The SeeD's of Balamb were on a mission when the jets struck, all except Selphie who was planning the Garden Festival. Edea, Cid, Norg, Nida, Zell's girlfriend, all were killed. And so, they thought, was Selphie until Zell found her weapons.  
  
Seifer looked around while he jumped off Quezacotl's back. "Hey Instructor, messenger girl, chicken-wuss, we need fire-wood, go fetch," he said in his low drawl, smirking at the reaction.  
  
"Instructor?" said Quistis, confused.  
  
"Messenger girl!?" exclaimed Selphie, disgruntled that he didn't use her name even now.  
  
"Chicken-wuss!!?" shouted Zell who hated his pet name more than the confused feelings he had for Seifer.  
  
"You should know by now not to call me that Seifer," mumbled Quistis.  
  
"You know full well my name is Selphie!" she shouted, swinging her numchuku, "and 'go fetch' is not gonna make me get the firewood!"  
  
"…..Chicken-wuss!!" shouted Zell again. Seifer stared at him and smiled to himself, he was doing that sulky pout again.  
  
"Hey, you all knew who I was referring to so it worked, right?" he said laughing. They all mumbled slightly under their breath and went off in search, except Zell.  
  
"I'm not following your orders Mr Almasy, not until you use my proper name," he said, folding his arms. Seifer blinked and laughed again, approaching Zell.  
  
"You will do as I say," he said then leant toward him to whisper. "Don't make me drag you there." Zell's eyes widened in confusion. Seifer grabbed Zell's arm and dragged him in the direction of a nearby lump of trees. Zell, despite his protests, allowed Seifer to do this and waited till they were out of sight of the others to pull his arm back.  
  
"What's your deal Seifer?" he asked, rubbing his arm and pouting again. Seifer didn't say anything and instead gently cupped Zell's face with his hands. Those bright blue eyes glinted in acknowledgement and he grinned cheekily. Slowly Seifer drew Zell's face nearer then, feeling no resistance smiled and closed his eyes. Zell chuckled and stopped himself. "You really think your gonna get me that easily Mr Almasy?" he said, taking a step back. Seifer grinned, he loved the challenge of those hard to get. "You'll have to work harder than that," said Zell, bending down to pick up a few dry sticks. Seifer saw his opportunity being obviously laid out for him and grabbed the short man's waist and pressed himself against him. Zell stood up straight and looked over his shoulder into his arrogant admirers' eyes, still grinning. He laughed and started back to the others with 2 sticks.  
  
"Two sticks? That's it? Come on chicken-wuss, can't you handle more than that?" Zell stopped in his tracks and turned around, now frowning.  
  
"Quit callin' me that!" he said through gritted teeth. Seifer started chanting his pet-name as Zell dug his left foot into the ground behind him and lifted the other off the ground. Meanwhile Seifer was dancing around, chanting the name louder attracting the attention of Squall and the others back where Quezacotl landed. He then did a finale of spinning round on one foot and shouting out Zell's nick-name which was cut short by Zell charging into his stomach and lifting him up off the ground. He ran with Seifer, who was laughing and hugging Zell's head, behind the same collection of trees that they were before. Twisting round, he fell onto his back with Seifer on top of him, joining in with the laughter that was mumbled into his ear. Seifer slowly moved his face so that he was touching noses with Zell. He waited for his consent to continue, which was Zell running his tongue along Seifer's lips and closing his eyes. With this Seifer lowered his head down and kissed Zell gently, careful not to weigh down upon his tiny form. As he had done before, Seifer traced Zell's tattoo with his finger then with his tongue. It was this moment that Squall decided to look round to see what was taking them so long and why he couldn't hear the sound of Seifer getting punched. There he saw the most unexpected coupling he ever thought he would see. Standing there with his mouth wide open, he watched in shock and slight curiosity as the two blondes explored their partners' bodies with their hands and devoured eachother's mouths hungrily. Zell's small physique was enveloped by Seifer's long trenchcoat but that didn't inhibit the rampant wanderings of his nimble hands. Squall felt a pang of exclusion wash over him quickly, Seifer was meant to be attracted to him, not Zell. Where the hell did this come from all of a sudden? He shuffled his feet slightly attracting the attention of Seifer who looked up, not taking his lips away from Zell for a second. Zell froze, his breath catching in his throat, no one knew or even suspected that he might be bi-sexual, what was he going to say? Slowly he edged himself closer to Seifer thus hiding him in his trenchcoat as Seifer giggled uncharacteristically. Looking down to hide his blush, Squall tried to string a sentence together that wouldn't sound stupid in the circumstances. He failed to find anything so instead just stood there blinking with his mouth still hanging open. The cheerful ring of Selphie's voice came bounding round the corner just as Seifer and Zell were standing up.  
  
"Hey! You two weren't beating on eachother, were you?" she asked in concern. She rushed up to the two boys and frantically started searching them for injuries. Finding none her worried tone turned to suspicion, "just what exactly were you doing? And why does Squall look like he just lost many a brain cell?" Smiling she turned to Squall who, getting the message quickly, shut him mouth and resumed his usual scowl.  
  
"I think I'd better come out now, I've hid it for long enough," mumbled Seifer, rubbing the back of his neck almost shyly. This act of bashfulness from Seifer of all people unnerved Selphie. His choice of words didn't help her confusion either as he headed back to where the rest of the group had decided to sit down while Selphie contemplated what on earth Seifer was on about. Squall sat down next to Rinoa who rested her head on his shoulder. Selphie ran and sat down also, taking a small girl onto her lap and staring up at Seifer who was readying himself. "I think it's best for all of us, mainly me, if I come out with a secret that I've held for quite a while." Zell wondered back and, to everyone's surprise, including Seifer, slipped his arm around Seifer's waist.  
  
"Go on Seifer, tell them already," All those close to the two guys, spare Squall let their mouths drop open in shock. Seifer then proceeded to tell them everything, how he only bullied Squall and Zell to vent out these weird feelings he had for them. How he thought getting involved with the sorceress would take his mind off the obvious love he held for both of them. Finally how his longing for them both, Zell in particular, gave him the inspiration to come back after the incident with Ultimicia. There was a short silence after Seifer had finished that gave Zell the opportunity to plant a small kiss on Seifer's cheek, making him blush slightly. Selphie jumped up and shouted for joy.  
  
"Oh my god! This is the cutest thing!" she said, flailing her arms about in recognisable excitement. "I never would have thought…I mean…you two!" Seifer looked over at Squall, expecting to see a look of disgust as he thought he had seen before when he caught him and Zell kissing. Instead he saw Squall smiling at him. Meanwhile Zell had already been hugged by Selphie, who was now hugging Irvine, and standing in front of Seifer grinning.  
  
"There, you did it. Not so hard, huh?" he said, taking hold of Seifer's hand. Seifer smiled back at him and gripped tightly onto it.  
  
"Zell…" he started, his eyes looking anywhere but at Zell and blush appearing in his cheeks again. Zell leaned closer into Seifer, wrapping his arms around his waist and staring up into Seifer's nervous face.  
  
"Yeeess?" he drawled, smirking slightly. Seifer laughed nervously.  
  
"All this means you're bi…right?" he asked, hoping he wasn't getting the wrong idea. Zell nodded and Seifer continued. "And you don't have a girlfriend…right?"  
  
"Get to the point Almasy," Zell said in a mocking bored tone. By this time the attention of everyone was focused on these two, who remained oblivious.  
  
"Would…er, I mean, can I…umm," stuttered Seifer, trying desperately to find the right words. Zell felt that he shouldn't put him through anymore and, pulling on his collar to reach his face, kissed him softly. Seifer kissed back, delighted at this turn out, until Zell pulled back.  
  
"Are you asking me out Seifer?" he said, trying not to laugh as he did. Seifer spluttered a few words, suddenly terrified that he got the wrong idea after all. "How about I try then," said Zell, moving a strand of strawberry-blonde hair out of suffering mans' eyes. Seifer nodded as words finally failed him. "Seifer Almasy," started Zell, flicking his head back and grinning. "Would you mind awfully if I were to ask you out, as a boyfriend-boyfriend thing?" he said, staring into Seifer's sparkling blue eyes. Seifer nodded and, laughing into Zell's warm hair, hugged his new boyfriend. A huge cheer rose from the rest of the crowd as they did making Seifer and Zell both feel like they were in some sort of romantic movie. Selphie and Rinoa couldn't help throwing their arms around their lovers' necks and kissing them, inspired by the show of emotion from these two men. Irvine was happy to oblige, Squall was taken aback by a flash of blue Rinoa kissing his passionately but soon kissed back. Quistis smiled, mostly to herself, having no man to throw her arms around.  
  
Nestella watched all this and wondered how the hell she got into this situation. There she was, walking toward no-where in particular when she crashes into this tall, handsome brunette. Suddenly she's going through, went through a battle, an escape from prison, a flight on an enormous bird and now everyone was kissing. Not to mention that shorter blonde coming extremely close to uncovering her secret. The bird was still standing near them, its head twisting and turning this way and that, looking around and enjoying its rest from wherever it came from. She remembered Zell throwing his arms around, the whole place going black and then appearing exactly where she had been before but with the bird in front instead. She shook her head and decided to try and forget it, wondering over toward her old friend. At any rate this was far more exciting and less starving than her life before. Zell wondered over toward Nez who was staring now into the pitch black eyes of Quezacotl, mumbling words to it as it tilted it's head.  
  
"We still haven't talked about you," he said, watching her talk with his GF in curiosity. "Just what is your deal? You've made friends with Quezacotl easily." Nez shuffled nervously and looked to the ground, mumbling something that only Zell could hear. "Bullshit, 'course you can tell me," he said cheerfully, "what, don't you trust us? After we saved your life and all that?" Nez rang her hands and almost too subtly revealed a small mark on her wrist. Zell frowned and then jumped up as he remembered. "Woa! You're a…" He searched Quezacotl's right wing feverishly finding the exact same mark almost like a tattoo. Running over to Squall he mumbled a few words to him that Nez couldn't hear. She was becoming more and more nervous, if they found out, what would they do? Would they want to capture her? Keep her confined in one of their minds? A freezing cold gale swept around the entire group as Shiva made her entrance. She showed her wrist to Zell and Squall and walked over to Nez, taking her wrist gently sending icy tingle along Nez's arm. Shiva smiled at Nez and spoke with words that, although meant to be warming, were cold as ice.  
  
"Nestella, I thought you were killed," she said softly, releasing a white cloud of cold air. "Do not be scared of these people, Squall is the best partner I have had so far. They will not use you if you do not wish to be a summoning, they are not like that. Trust them." With that she evaporated into ice crystals and made her way back to Squall. Quistis, having been close enough to hear Shiva's words, walked beside Nez and held out her hand to help her up. Nez smiled and took it.  
  
"Nez, I can't think why you couldn't trust us enough to tell us," said Quistis. "Now that we know, I guess we should find out what your element is." Nez took a deep breath and walked to where Seifer had made his announcement only 5 minutes ago.  
  
"Okay, here goes. My name, as you know, is Nestella and I am the Guardian Force of poison. My attack is called Toxin Venom where I wrap the opponent in a spiked vine containing a poison that not only takes off a lot to begin with but also takes off HP at regular intervals till the end of the battle. That's basically it." She spoke slowly, absorbing the reactions of her audience as they in turn absorbed her information. At the end, Seifer stood up and looked her over.  
  
"Why have you been keeping this a secret? With your power you can defeat a lot of the RG's, however strong they have been engineered."  
  
"Maybe so," Nez answered, "but once I kill a few the rest will come for me and confine me and test me..and.." she trailed off at the horror of the thought. Seifer nodded and sat back down, putting his arm back around Zell's shoulders.  
  
"Have you always been free?" asked Zell, not bothering to stand up. Nez shook her head.  
  
"You got me wrong to begin with. It's not that I don't trust humans it's just that I'm scared of losing a partner again. I did have a, well, a master I suppose you could call him but we were more of a team. There was apparently nothing we couldn't handle together. We'd protect eachother from attacks, help eachother out if it got a bit too much, he treated me as a best friend. We only had eachother in the whole world after he was thrown out of his home. I found him, dying, and took care of him. From then until…" She looked down as she spoke, "until he was killed we were never separated. He felt, because I saved his life, that he owed me something but really it was the other way round. Until I met him I was so lonely to the point of ending it all as no one would seem to care anyway. That's how you found me Irvine," she said, lifting her head and smiling at him. "If we hadn't bumped into eachother, and if you hadn't insisted that I come with you, I would have been all set to do it that morning."  
  
"Could you show us your attack?" asked Squall, curious to see it. Nez answered saying she needed a volunteer first. Squall looked around the baron plains that they had landed searching for some unlucky monster. That turned out to be a Jelly-eye that happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Squall nodded toward it and Nez stepped forward. As she did however, she disappeared, as did the rest of the group. Dark green plants started to sprout up around the Jelly-eye who began to get very suspicious. Five or six thick vines came up from the broken ground, twisting till they were 10 feet high then, spreading at the top like a flower opening, disappeared back into the ground again. There in their place was the new Nestella. She was now clothed in a bright green cat suit with images of carnivorous plants embroided on it. Her eyes were now dark red as was her hair that flew around violently. Leaving a few seconds for the monster to realise that it was about to die she raised her hand, pointing it directly at the monster. Out of this came the spiked vine that she described, wrapping itself around the Jelly-eye who was screeching in terror. Nez clenched her fist and pulled her elbow to her side making the vine tighten and pierce the monster. As she unclenched her hand the vine fell away and melted into the ground leaving a bloody mess that was once the Jelly-eye in it's wake. A cloud of green gas enveloped Nez and disappeared with her. This attack killed the monster straight off. Zell cheered and, as the rest joined in, ran to where the monster lay.  
  
"That was awesome!!" he shouted searching round for Nez. "You can come back now." This she did, still in her green attire.  
  
"This is my true form, cool huh?" she said, laughing slightly. Her confidence was rushing back to her, she realised that she could trust these people. If the great Shiva could then there was no reason in the world why she couldn't.  
  
"Damn straight! You look hot!" said Irvine who was consequently kicked by Selphie. "Woa Sefie, you're still my girl!" he said, hugging her till she hugged back. 


End file.
